Questing for JaPow

Japan is known for many things – Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, quality cars, and sushi. Increasingly, it has become moderately famous in the West for great powder skiing, aka “JaPow”. Last fall, John invited me on a ski trip to Japan with Chris and Rio.

Initially, I waffled. Two weeks is a lot of vacation to burn mid-winter, especially considering that my wedding is later this summer, and Kelly and I will probably go on a honeymoon after that. But it was actually Kelly who pushed me to go on the trip. When would I again get the opportunity to ski in Japan, traveling with friends, one of whom is a native Japanese speaker (Rio spent the first 6 years of his life in Japan)? She was right. I had to say yes.

I knew basically nothing about skiing in Japan. The first decision was if we were going to visit the main island or Hokkaido, the north island. Rio, who has skied some on both, preferred Hokkaido for better snow quality. Where to stay? We decided to split our time between touristy Western Hokkaido (Niseko), and more authentic Central Hokkaido (Asahikawa). The trip came together relatively last minute, but we had all the details figured out by December.

Day by Day

Traveling to Hokkaido

We took a direct flight to Tokyo Narita. Unfortunately, this meant we had to change airports to Haneda. We had four hours between flights, but our first flight was delayed by an hour, and we faced rush hour traffic on the bus through Tokyo. Luckily, the security line was short and we still made our flight to Sapporo/Chitose. The final leg of our journey was hauling our heavy ski bags through the icy streets to our hotel.

Yotei-zan

After a night near the Sapporo airport, we picked up our rental car and faced our first challenge: fitting four dudes and their ski gear in a Toyota Corolla Fielder. We made it work, but only because Asians are small people. I would get a van if I did it again.

The second challenge was driving on the left side of the road. Neither Rio nor I had done this before, and it took a while for our brains to not freak out when we saw cars coming towards us on the right side.

We set off towards Niseko. It was the last bluebird day after a rare week of high pressure in Hokkaido. We cruised through the mountain roads west of Sapporo, gazing around at the snowy scenery. In a way, it had a snowy magic reminiscent of driving through Alaska. When we finally saw Yotei-zan, the most famous volcano in Western Hokkaido, shining in the sun, we all got stoked.

Since it had been warm and sunny for a week, we decided to do the NE aspect, hoping that the snow would not be too crusty. While it was extremely tracked out, the snow was at least still dry, albeit very wind affected up high. We got a late start, but quickly caught up to dozens of other skiers as we skinned up the icy face to the summit crater. We made it up with wide skis and no ski crampons, but only barely.

At the crater, we ran into Eric, Alex, and Matt, all friends from the Issaquah Alps Trails Club! There were dozens of people on all sides of the crater. Interestingly, we felt that the racial makeup of skiers was even whiter than back home – there was only one other Asian group amongst dozens.

Yotei-zan is only about 6220 ft, but it feels massive compared to the lower mountains of Hokkaido. We could see to the ocean in three directions!

The snow wasn’t very good, but we had to ski one obligatory run into the crater, because there aren’t many places you get to do that!

Iwanai

Rio’s friends Catalin and Iñigo, from the Basque region of Spain, were also visiting Hokkaido. We met up with them the next day to do some touring at Iwanai, an old ski resort near the coast. Now, it operates as a cat skiing operation, but there is still some ski touring you can do in the side country.

There are tons of little ski areas in Hokkaido (and about 500 in all of Japan), but Rio says that many are slowly going out of business with the modern economics of large, international resorts like Niseko and Rusutu. I imagine that Hokkaido ski culture is a bit like American ski culture was 50 years ago before mountain towns all became bougie and expensive.

In the side country, we found a fair amount of tracks and a lot of wind effect that ruined otherwise beautiful glades. But after some poking around, we found once decent run. Skiing at such a low elevation so close to the ocean reminded me of costal Alaska. We finished the day with our first onsen, just down the road from the ski area.

Shiribetsu-dake

On a ski day in Japan, each morning begins with a stop at a “convenee”, or convenience store. These little marts serve cheap but tasty Japanese food like sushi, onigiri, Japanese fried chicken, various dim sum dishes, and more. It is absolutely delicious and insanely cheap. If one of these stores popped up in the Seattle area, they would become insanely popular!

This was the final day before an incoming storm, so we opted for a short tour on Shiribetsu-dake. Expecting clouds, we were pleased to find a sunny morning.

Shiribetsu has some of the steeper terrain Hokkaido has to offer. It is very popular with heli-skiers, and we saw quite a few dropped off while we were up there.

Despite the mountain’s popularity, we actually found some nice protected powder, the best snow yet of the trip. We also skied plenty of snow that resembled an in-bounds ski area.

We watched from the rain shadow of Yotei-zan as the storm slowly encircle us from all sides. By the time we got back to the car, it was snowing lightly. Let it snow!

Nitonupuri

Well, it finally snowed! The town of Niseko got 4 inches of fresh snow overnight, and the ski resort reported similar amounts. In the PNW, 4 inches is most definitely not enough to make for good skiing when most aspects are tracked or crusted out, but we decided to venture up to the classic Niseko backcountry to take a look for ourselves.

We started off ascending Chisenupuri’s SE slopes, in hope of being in the lee of strong NW winds. The predominant winds are out of the NW in Hokkaido, which is unlike the PNW, where winds are typically SW. Visibility was in and out as we ascended. Unfortunately, it was definitely out when we attempted to ski. The treed slopes across the valley on Nitonupuri beckoned.

The names of the peaks in the Niseko Backcountry (everything that ends with “puri”) are not typical Japanese names. Instead, they are named by a different ethnic group, the Ainu people, that is indigenous to Hokkaido.

Despite the strong northwesterly winds, we found much better snow amongst the trees on the west slopes of Nitonupuri. Ridges were scoured, but once we dropped into the gladed bowl, we found wonderful soft powder through magical trees. 4 inches never felt so good! Our estimate was more like a foot of fresh snow.

We established a good skin track and put down a bunch of laps. There were many other huge parties out, but it was still easy to get fresh powder on each run. Once again, we were the only Asians spotted on the tour, and actually the only Americans too! There was an entire group of Spanish skimo-ers with their skinny skimo skis and tight pants, which stood in stark contrast to other foreign groups with heavy side country gear.

Eventually, the wind and snow picked up even more, driving us out. But not before we got our fix of that mythical JaPow.

Kiroro Backcountry

Tracking snow amounts isn’t simple in Japan. Back home, I know all the telemetry sites and there are other maps showing recent snowfall. Here, I felt relatively in the dark. Models had predicted a modest foot or so of snow in the mountains around Niseko, but we had heard rumors of 70cm over the last 2 days in nearby Kiroro. Were the rumors true?

It was snowing and windy as we left Niseko for good, headed for Kiroro, and eventually Asahikawa that evening. Snow removal is truly incredible in Hokkaido. I have never been anywhere that gets so much snow down in the towns. Even near sea level, snow banks are as tall as your vehicle. Hokkaido has so many windy mountain roads, but they somehow manage to clear them all!

We linked up with two friends, Sean and Ghia, for the Kiroro Backcountry. It was dumping snow as we parked and started touring.

It was remarkably uncrowded on our first lap. The snow was hilariously deep. At first, it took us a bit of time to get used to skiing such deep and light snow. None of us had ever skied such deep powder. It was truly “snorkel” deep. Wild!

Around 11 AM, it got super busy. Giant guided groups arrived. In Japan, we typically started our tours around 9 AM, but that was early by local standards. Most people here start around 10 AM, ski one or two laps, and are gone by 1 PM. It felt like we were being lazy by PNW standards, but in Japan, we were try-hard ski-mo speedsters. Passing these large groups was particularly difficult, because it often required breaking trail for a new skin track to get around the giant groups. There was one particularly grumpy Australian guide who demanded to know where we going. We just pointed in a random direction, since it was all good skiing!

Aided by Sean’s past experience in this area, we were able to get fresh tracks on lap after lap. It was a balance between finding slopes steep enough to ski, but also being careful to not trigger too much sluffing.

By 2 PM, we were once again alone in the backcountry. It finally stopped snowing and cleared up on our final exit back to our cars.

We finished the day with a long drive through traffic to Asahikawa, but a dinner stop for sushi in Sapporo was nice!

Otoe-yama

After a late night, we slept in and went out for a “recovery” tour of Otoe-yama near Asahikawa. This peak has a summit elevation (795m) that is lower than Snoqualmie Pass, and our starting elevation was only 500 ft! The touring is so low elevation in Hokkaido – lower than even Alaska.

HokkaidoWilds described the parking for this tour as “adequate” but we were surprised to find just a few parking spaces at the end of a snowy road. Cars started parking on the side as a result. We had to shovel some space for our car.

It was an unexpectedly sunny day with great snow. This was our first tour with a large amount of Japanese skiers because of its proximity to both Sapporo and Asahikawa. We could tell when we were approaching Japanese skiers because they would kindly let us pass, while Europeans and Australians almost never would.

Although skiing waist deep powder and getting constant face shots is fun and novel, bluebird powder days are far superior! We thoroughly enjoyed the lovely views and skiing on Otoe-yama. Whenever we thought we were done, we decided to do one more lap. It was too nice not to.

We all agreed that this was an unexpectedly great tour. It goes to show that amazing skiing and scenery can be found all over Hokkaido, even in the lesser known low lying mountains!

Unfortunately, we learned that parking for this tour was closed to the public just days after we went due to issues with the private land owner. Please check HokkaidoWilds before doing this tour!

Furano-dake

The Tokachi Range in Central Hokkaido is possibly the most alpine part of Hokkaido. When I first saw pictures of it, I thought it looked like Alaska! During our time in Asahikawa, we wanted to explore the Tokachi Range.

With a forecast of mixed visibility, we decided to visit the mid elevations of Furano-dake. The Tokachi Range is primarily above tree line, but there are some good treed slopes on Furano-dake.

The Tokachi Range is inside of Daisetsuzan National Park. It was remarkable to enter a snowy national park that is open 7 days a week with no gate to worry about. Crazy! America could never…

The approach began with a descent to cross a volcanic creek. We had to take our skis off in places. It was the first time we had faced any sort of BS while touring in Hokkaido. It made us PNW skiers feel right at home.

We initially followed the skin track up “Giant Ridge” into the alpine. Like most of Japan, there are many steep gullies and and drainages separated by exposed ridges. The ridges are very wind swept and icy. The nearby gullies had a lot of tracks in them already. We kept going up until we entered a cloud. Partly by luck, and partly by curiosity, we ended up straying far from the typical route, stumbling upon amazing snow on some protected south facing slopes (predominant winds are out of the NW) on the side of the west facing giant drainage. On the ridge it was large rime chicken heads, but just off the ridge it was blower powder. That’s Japan for you in a nutshell.

We ended up deep in a giant drainage. There were ski lines funneling into the gully from all sides above us. The ski terrain is seemingly endless out here. Even with limited visibility, we could tell that there terrain in the Tokachi Range was much bigger and more complex than other parts of Hokkaido.

We had quickly gotten far away from the crowds. We broke deep trail out of the drainage and started lapping the good snow. After being on so many crowded tours, it was so nice to not feel rushed or have to worry about others.

It took us a while to traverse back to our car, but it was well worth it. On our way out, it started snowing the most perfect little snowflakes.

In Japan, you end every activity with an onsen. Nearby Fukiage Onsen was my favorite onsen of the trip; it had many different hot and cold pools, and even personal hot tubs you could soak in while watching the snow outside!

Kamifurano-dake

Hokkaido is a notoriously stormy place in the winter. Even though Central Hokkaido is drier than coastal Hokkaido, clear days in the Tokachi Range are still challenging to come by. According to weather forecasts (which we found to be extremely unreliable in Hokkaido), we had a morning weather window to get into the alpine. So we got up early and headed into the alpine!

We began at Tocachidake Onsen, which sits around 4,000 ft at tree line. It was a clear and cold morning (-13 C).

There are many options from the onsen, but we decided to start by ascending Kamifurano-dake (1893m). This is a high but relatively easy summit. This would get us alpine views before the weather went downhill and gave us ski options on each aspect. It was bitterly cold in the shade with a breeze, so we blazed up to the summit in under 1.5 hours.

As we entered the sunshine on the summit ridge, we were greeted by absolutely incredible views of the Tokachi Range and surrounding ranges. The Tokachi range reminded me of Alaska, with big spines and bowls, but the steaming craters and vents added a purely Japanese flair. It really feels like world-class terrain, with world-class access also.

While our original plan was to ski back down to the west, the warm sun and unexpected smooth powder slopes on the backside were too enticing to pass up. The SE aspect had a beautiful mellow gully that held the promise of low angle powder skiing. So we set off, boot-top powder, above the clouds, into the sun. It was pure Hokkaido magic.

In the alpine of the Tokachi Range, aspect is everything. While most aspects were stripped to rocks, we found SE aspects to be smooth with powder. The absolute importance of aspect reminded me of the Front Range in Alaska. So we decided to hang out on the backside, skiing whatever looked tasty, until the weather went downhill.

When we planned our trip to Hokkaido, we figured we would ski nice powder in trees. But we never expected we would ski hero powder high in the alpine on such a beautiful day. Sometimes, you just get lucky. But we also had the creativity and fitness to make the most of the luck. It was our 8th straight day of touring, but we rallied because we knew how special this opportunity was. We will remember days like this for a long time.

Once again, we were alone in the popular Tokachi Range, farming lap after lap of perfect snow.

At the top of each lap, the ridge line winds felt stronger. Eventually, we knew we had to boogie before the approaching storm engulfed us. We skinned back to the summit of Kamifurano-dake and ripped our skins in 30mph winds. Visibility was deteriorating rapidly with blowing snow.

We efficiently skied down into the Ansei Crater as snow pelted us from all directions. We zipped back down to the onsen, aided at times by a violet wind out of the SE. By the time we reached the onsen, the parking lot was a blizzard and the mountains had completely disappeared from view. I had never seen visibility deteriorate so fast. We had escaped just in time!

We went straight to the onsen to warm up and relax after an incredible day of skiing. Although not our final day of skiing, it felt like the climax of our trip. As we soaked in the unfiltered hot spring water, we let the memories of a great day sink in.

Chitokaniushi-yama

After our big day in the Tokachi Range, we took a rest day. A warm storm hit Hokkaido from the SE. As a result, what typically is the dry side of the island got the most snowfall. The town of Obihiro got a record breaking 120 cm of snowfall in just 12 hours!

We knew we needed to get higher than sea level to avoid heavier snow, but we also knew that there would probably be wind effect above tree line. We were driving towards Ariake-yama when we saw a beautiful sunny mountain in front of us. It turned out to be Chitokaniushi-yama, so we decided to change plans and go for this shorter tour.

Just as we were getting started, our friend Niki appeared from a van that had just pulled in. Small world!

The tour begins pretty flat before climbing on a gentle ridge. This area had some beautiful trees.

Wind and snow started to move in when we reached the summit, so we turned around and skied back down the west ridge. The fresh snow was definitely more dense than the last week in Hokkaido, but the top few inches were soft and bouncy. It reminded me of classic PNW pow, in a good way.

We took two laps, but then decided to head out. The skiing was decent, but the stoke wasn’t there after so much incredible skiing earlier in the week.

Shamansha-dake

On our final day in Hokkaido, we chose to drive back to Chitose south through Furano, rather than the more direct route through Sapporo. This allowed us to get in one last tour in the Furano area. We chose a tour near Minamifurano, since it seemed that this area got a decent amount of snow recently.

The small parking lot was nearly full when we arrived around 9 AM. This area has denser trees, thinner snowpack, and lots of conifers. It felt a bit more like the PNW.

We followed a beautiful skin track, possibly the best we encountered in Hokkaido. Unsurprisingly, we ran into Trevor and Shane, two PNW guides, breaking trail up ahead. We joined them in breaking trail to the top.

The snow was deep but certainly a little heavier than earlier in the week. On the way down, Rio took a spill in the powder. At the end of the run, he realized his ski had completely snapped! He was bummed, but at least it was the final day.

Rio headed out while John, Chris, and I returned for two more laps. Despite an abundance of people, we still found untracked powder in the trees between the more open runs. The sun even made an appearance, between snow squalls.

It was a short tour, but a nice way (with the exception of Rio’s ski) to end our skiing in Hokkaido!

Tokyo

We spent about 2.5 days in Tokyo on the tail end of trip. This is probably longer than most groups, but we wanted to give Rio time to visit family.

I don’t consider myself a city person, but I actually really enjoyed Tokyo. Tokyo is remarkably clean (I never even spotted litter, despite the scarcity of trash cans), safe (people just leave their bikes unlocked out on a street corner), and sports a robust metro system. In many ways, it is the antithesis of Seattle. It was very entertaining to just walk around, wander into random stores, experience the craze of anime, and watch people hustle about the city with a purpose. Overstimulation may be a risk, but it is certainly entertaining. Tokyo feels like the spitting image of a well-run big city.

While commercial districts tend to be distinct and large in America, there were little food spots everywhere in Tokyo. Shops are often tiny – many had seating for fewer than 10 customers, with just one or two employees. They typically just specialize in one dish. Walking the streets was basically a natural food tour. Instead of getting one big meal, I typically ate smaller portions from a bunch of different places. The quality and price was excellent, especially with the strength of the US dollar. What makes such small shops capable of thriving in Tokyo, but not as much so in America? Is it economies of scale? Consumer preferences? Permitting and regulations? Zoning? The cost of labor?

One day, we took the subway to the Tokyo Government Metropolitan Building, where one can take a free ride up to the 45th floor for a view of the entire city. It was so nice that we came back again at nighttime. While I’m used to gazing out upon a sea of mountains from a high peak, here we could take in the sea of buildings, home to 38 million people, the most populous metro area in the world. Just like the endless mountains, the endless city also made me feel small, but in a different way.

Even if you’re not a city person, I feel like it is worth spending at least a day in Tokyo. I certainly enjoyed it much more than I expected.

Impressions

Terrain

The terrain of Hokkaido is predominantly moderate, below tree line, but there is really impressive alpine terrain in Central Hokkaido. The snowpack is deep, even at sea level, so finding good skiing is mostly a matter of finding plowed access and nicely spaced trees. At the mid elevations, the tree spacing can be absolutely glorious, and the lack of vegetation on the trees means that skiing between them is easy, and all the snowfall reaches the surface. It also means that wind can easily affect the snow, even in the trees.

Hokkaido is a great place for short, chill tours. You can go out for a few hours and still ski great snow in the trees. Compared to the PNW, it felt like we were on “easy” mode with relatively simple terrain that made for easy skinning and skiing.

Tree line is very low (3-4k ft in Western Hokkaido, 4k or so in Central Hokkaido), but many peaks don’t even reach 3k. The tallest are around 6k.

While Hokkaido does have some big mountain terrain, this is very much not the place to go if skiing big lines is your priority. If mellow tree skiing is your thing, then this is your jam.

One big difference in terrain vs the PNW is the lack of prior glaciation. Instead, the terrain is all water carved. As a result, there are not many nice bowls, but rather ridges and steep gullies. You do have to be careful about getting sucked into deep gullies, where there can be hidden waterfalls and running water.

Snowpack

The snowpack of Hokkaido is really impressive. Hokkaido sits at the same latitude as northern California, yet it routinely gets 10 ft of snow at sea level. This is due to cold air from Siberia forming high pressure, picking up moisture over the warm Sea of Japan, and slamming into the mountains of Hokkaido. “Sea-effect snow“, “Ja-pow”. It might not be the lightest snow on Earth, but it’s typically better quality than the PNW and they sure get a lot of it.

Because of its low elevation and latitude, winters are relatively short but intense in Hokkaido. Snowfall doesn’t really pick up until late November and it’s mostly done by the end of March. In comparison, our PNW mountains get snow regularly November through May. But for those few winter months, Hokkaido really does feel a bit like SE Alaska – an arctic maritime climate. That’s crazy to say, considering that Hokkaido is at 42 degrees north, the same latitude as Northern California.

Japan is known for incredible snowfall amounts, and indeed cities like Kutchan (near Niseko) get around ~1000 cm of annual snowfall, which is more than Snoqualmie Pass (~700 cm), but less than Baker (~1600 cm). However, Snoqualmie Pass gets far more monthly precipitation during the winter. For example, Snoqualmie gets about 15 inches of precipitation in January, while Kutchan gets only 7 inches. Snoqualmie’s precipitation is just much denser snowfall (HyWAP), and frequently rain.

Along with the impressive snowfall, Hokkaido also gets powerful wind. We often found wind effect at 2k-3k ft, even down in the trees. Above tree line is almost always rime ice. Strong NW winds mean that the SE aspect is the most protected. Even in town, we experienced blowing snow and blizzard like conditions at times!

So is “JaPow” a guarantee if you come in January-February? Certainly not. Of the 10 days we skied, we had great powder on 6 days, decent powder on 1 day, and variable (but not terrible) conditions on 3 days. But when it does get into a favorable pattern, it seems to frequently snow moderate amounts day after day, at relatively consistent temperatures.

Niseko has an avalanche report, but most of Hokkaido doesn’t have a reliable avalanche report. We had to be a little more cautious because of that, but fortunately there is plenty of chill terrain to ski.

This paper goes into more detail about Japan “sea-effect” snowfall, comparing it to Great Lakes “lake-effect” snowfall. This resource goes over predicted effects of climate change on Hokkaido snowpack.

Weather

Western Hokkaido is known to be quite stormy in the winter, but we arrived at the end of a 10 day dry spell, so “dryuary” can happen. The weather supposedly gets into more extended patterns of moisture, rather than one focused storm like in North America. The temperatures also seem to stay very consistent during these storms, creating a very uniform density of snowfall, which is good for stability.

During our trip, once it started snowing, it snowed way more than expected. Where the windy.com Euro model called for 4 inches in Niseko, it snowed a foot. Where it called for 12 inches in Kiroro, it snowed 30 inches. And where it called for just a few inches in Furano, it snowed 20 inches. I have never seen the Euro so useless. Locals told us that it nearly always snows more than forecasted.

Temperatures were pretty moderate for us (generally -10 to 0 C), but the icy wind made it feel colder than normal. I found myself wearing a buff much more than normal.

We found that the most reliable way to look at past snowfall was either the ski area websites, or this Japan snowfall map.

Visibility was variable in Hokkaido. Almost every day was fickle, with visibility in and out. It would often be sunny and snowing at the same time. Only on two days was the weather actually good enough to confidently go into the alpine.

Beta

We mostly relied on HokkaidoWilds to find access points for different ski tours. This site is quite comprehensive and makes it easy to find tours in different areas. Unsurprisingly, this site has become quite controversial because it makes it easier for tourists to discover local spots. Locals have come to avoid spots that are “blown up” by foreigners. There’s no equivalent free resource in America.

Personally, knowing where you can park is the biggest challenge when going to a new place. With topographic maps and satellite imagery, I can pretty easily figure out where I want to ski. Oftentimes we found the best skiing away from the specific ski lines that HokkaidoWilds described.

In reality, most tours in Hokkaido (with the exception of the few alpine tours) are more or less the same. There’s not a single spot that is best, so don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to go to the exact spots described in a guide or anything.

Guiding

Guiding is really common in Hokkaido. Many groups we encountered were guided. If you want a guide, there are both local Japanese guides and American guides you can hire. If you want to optimize your powder, it might be a good choice. However, we found it pretty easy to find tours and good snow, even with little familiarity around the terrain. Personally, I feel that a place like the PNW, with highly variable conditions and complex terrain, makes guiding services more important than Japan, where the terrain is mostly simple and good snow is abundant.

Access

Unlike the PNW, there’s a plethora of plowed roads in Hokkaido. Hokkaido might actually have the most extensive snow removal infrastructure in the entire world, with its combination of snowfall and population. Considering the snowpack is deep enough to tour over much of the island, there are a lot of options. However, I did notice that it seems like Hokkaido backcountry skiers, once able to slip under the radar, are starting to get noticed more, and that is causing more issues. For example, parking for Otoe-yama was closed just days after we went because the private land owner was getting frustrated with traffic. Even in the popular Niseko backcountry, the legality of roadside parking is dubious.

The most reliable public parking options are the onsens and ski areas, both of which do not charge backcountry skiers for parking. However, I imagine it might only be a matter of time before ski areas and onsens have to start charging backcountry skiers for taking parking spaces. If nothing else, make sure to pay for an onsen if you park at one. Hopefully guides, recreators, and communities can work together to preserve access even with growing participation. Perhaps access would be much better in the PNW if we had onsens at the end of each mountain road, so plowing is a necessity, but the American public would never go for such “capitalistic extraction” on our public lands.

As crowded as some spots were, we never had too much issue finding parking before 9 AM. And getting away from the crowds was far easier than the PNW, where people are more adventurous and fit. We found that if you were skiing something that didn’t lead directly back to the car, you were probably alone.

Honshu vs Hokkaido

Both Honshu, the main island of Japan, and Hokkaido, the northern island, have tons of skiing options. The mountains of Honshu actually receive more precipitation and snowfall than Hokkaido, but the snowfall is often warmer and lower in quality. The terrain on Honshu, notably around Hakuba, is steeper and higher. Hokkaido, along with Aomori in northern Honshu, is known for better snow quality and more moderate terrain. Skiing in Honshu is possible by bullet train from Tokyo, while skiing in Hokkaido typically necessitates a rental car.

Western Hokkaido vs Central Hokkaido

Western Hokkaido (Niseko) is certainly more popular among international tourists because of the large international resorts Niseko, Kiroro, and Rusutu. Niseko is a very touristy town, with expensive lodging and food. Western Hokkaido typically gets more snowfall than Central Hokkaido. There are a plethora of touring options within a 40 minute drive. It was nice for short, accessible tours. Supposedly, it is super crowded, but we didn’t feel that the backcountry was any more crowded there than in Central Hokkaido. Every trailhead was crowded, but we never had any trouble getting fresh snow all day. Go figure.

Central Hokkaido (Furano, Asahikawa) has a colder and drier climate. There are bigger mountains and more alpine terrain. Plus, John says that “the Tokachi Range is GOATed”. We chose to stay in Asahikawa for much of the trip because it gave us flexibility to drive in any direction and access different climates, but it did mean we drove 60-90 minutes most days. Furano, a smaller ski town, is another local option, with good access to the Furano ski area and Tokachi Range. While we enjoyed both areas, we felt that Asahikawa felt more like the “real” Japan.

Powder Project gives some strong opinions on places to stay in Hokkaido. I don’t agree with all of them, but it was still helpful.

Food

The food was obviously delicious, and impressively affordable (generally 1/3 the price of similar food in America). There is tons of fresh seafood and rice dishes. We enjoyed a variety of different restaurants, but honestly, I was most impressed with the “convenees” (convenience stores). Here, you can pick up fresh sushi, buns, onigiri, noodles, and a variety of Japanese snacks and drinks. We stopped at one each morning to get breakfast and food for the day. Fueling my ski tours with savory Japanese food worked really well for keeping me well fed day after day!

People

The Japanese people were extremely kind and friendly! The culture is very respectful and humble. It certainly helped to have Rio, who is fluent in Japanese, with us, but I think it would have been pretty easy to get by without a real Japanese speaker. Many locals did not speak English, but it was easy enough to order food, etc, with the help of Google Translate.

On our tours, we ran into far more Europeans, Australians, and Americans than Japanese, especially in the Niseko region. We often were the only Asian group out touring. But when we did run into locals, we tried to be especially respectful to them, since we imagined how it might feel if foreigners are coming and poaching all your powder and making it difficult to park at local tours.

Driving

You need to rent a car if you want to tour in Hokkaido. We got used to driving on the left side pretty quickly. The roads are very snowy in Hokkaido, so it is important to get a car with good tires. Clearance was never an issue, but traction was very important. Our car barely made it up to Tokachidake Onsen because the road was so slippery.

Another way of doing this trip is to rent a small RV. This gives you the ultimate flexibility to chase conditions around the island.

Cost

Skiing in Japan is a moderately expensive trip, but not much more than other first world destinations.

• Roundtrip flight to Hokkaido and back to Seattle: ~$1.1k
• Lodging in Niseko and Tokyo: ~$100 per person per night
• Lodging in Asahikawa: ~$40 per person per night
• Car rental: ~$800 for the entire trip for our group
• Food: $5-10 per meal
• Daily onsen: ~$5

Travel

We made a major mistake here: we had to transfer airports in Tokyo. I don’t recall why we chose this, but I’d really recommend trying to avoid it. Carrying heavy ski bags through public transit in Tokyo isn’t fun. As a workaround, we tried to ship our ski bags from Hokkaido to Narita, but that takes 3 days, and we were only in Tokyo for 2 days. Then we tried to ship our bags from Haneda (where our flight from Hokkaido landed) to Narita, but we landed at 11 PM and that service closes for the night at 11 PM.

Final Thoughts

More than a “ski trip”, Japan felt like a “ski vacation”. We still got after it; we toured over 52,000 ft of gain during our 10 days of skiing. But we never emptied the tank. We never had specific objectives. We passed on that extra powder lap, instead choosing to head to the onsen. Sometimes I felt more curiosity trying a new snack at a convenee than wondering what the next tour would be like. Even just staring out the car while driving through the snowy countryside, with snow banks higher than our car, and trees that felt like they were part of a painting, felt magical. I appreciate that our group was full of fast, skilled skiers. But even more importantly, we also had the maturity to recognize that the best ski trips aren’t only about skiing.

If you’re traveling to Japan expecting to ski some life changing JaPow, you might be disappointed. Maybe you should just go ski in British Columbia – it’s a hell of a lot closer and the terrain is bigger. But if you’re expecting to ski some good snow, eat tasty food, and experience a new culture, then you will have a great time. Skiing in Japan is the complete package.

Our trip to Japan was a really special trip, on the same caliber of visiting the Alps and skiing in Alaska. I hate to use the term “bucket list”, because I think we should try to be content with what we have and it is a privilege to travel around the world, but these experiences felt incredibly foreign and magical in different ways. It’s less of wanting to check a box, but more of wanting to understand the essence of a culture and place. I feel very grateful for the opportunity to ski in Japan with good friends.

I’m at the point in life where I know I may not get too many more shots to do something like this. Life is so finite, and there are so many experiences to have, so many choices we can make, but so little time. I’m glad I made the choice to say yes to this trip. Thank you Rio, John, and Chris for being part of a special memory.